121 Iowa 744 | Iowa | 1903
Plaintiff alleges that in the spring of 1901 he was the owner of a certain “musical instrument” ■of the value of $200, at Marshalltown, Iowa, which property the defendant, by its agents and employes, wrongfully 'took and carried away, and has failed to return or account -therefor, and judgment is asked for the damages thus •occasioned. The defendant answers that it is engaged in "business as a common carrier, and that at the time mentioned in the petition one McArthur caused to be delivered to defendant at the Tremont Hotel two packages, said to •contain one slot machine each, and at the direction of said McArthur defendant transported and delivered the same "to one Schaefer in Chicago, Ill. It is further averred that said packages were received, shipped, and delivered in good faith, without any notice of the claim of plaintiff to any of said property, and that such notice was not received until after the property had passed from defendant’s possession, and it was no longer within its power to return the same to plaintiff. The district court rendered judgment in plaintiff’s favor for the value of the machine, and defendant appeals.
The presumption which supports the judgment of the trial court in an action at law requires us to give the ap-pellee the benefit of the most favorable construction which can fairly be placed upon the testimony. The record will justify the conclusion that at the time in question there
The appeal is based principally upon the proposition laid down in Hutchinson on Carriers (2d Ed.) section 115, to the effect that a common carrier “accepting goods for carriage in good faith from a person not the owner, but in apparent control of them, and able immediately to assume the actual custody of them, and after carriage to the destination delivers them again to such person, is not
It should also be said the answer alleges that the machine in controversy was a gambling device, and therefor without any value which the law will recognize. This plea is mentioned in argument, but no reason or authority is urged in its support. The machine is described by the witnesses as a “musical black cat,” having “jack pots in it,” and is said to be “what is known as- a gambling machine.” It is also shown to have had at that time a market value of $150 to $200. No fact is stated as to the manner in which the device is used or operated, nor is it shown ever to have been employed in gambling or other
There appears to be no reversible error in the record, and the judgment of the district court is aeeirmed.